Life Beyond the Redwoods: Seeyade Gizachew shares insights one year after UCSC graduation

Seeyade Gizachew (Stevenson ’22, community studies and psychology) Seeyade Gizachew wants to prepare young people for the future. In her current role as a health justice coordinator for RYSE Youth Center in Richmond, California, and a graduate student at UC Berkeley, Gizachew is passionate about mentoring, education, and cultivating safe spaces.  The daughter of Ethiopian immigrants, Gizachew is a first-generation college graduate whose goal is to support underserved communities, especially BIPOC and first-gen youth.  “Coming from an Ethiopian immigrant family and being first-generation myself, there’s a lot of disconnects in understanding the higher education system and social experiences that our families haven’t navigated before,” Gizachew says. “It felt like it was on me to figure out everything, so that’s why I wanted to get into all these people-helping roles and support others who might go through the same experiences as myself.”  Gizachew graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.A. in community studies and psychology. As a part of her major requirement, she did field study hours at RYSE Youth Center. Once she graduated, she was offered a full-time job at RYSE as a health justice coordinator. In her position, Gizachew works on health education programming for young people. This...